diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
index 333e2b136a6..4f21e8c2829 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
@@ -4295,20 +4295,31 @@ async function teardownPrimaryBackendAndWait() {
   const dying = hermesProcess && !hermesProcess.killed ? hermesProcess : null
   resetHermesConnection()
 
-  if (!dying) {
+  await waitForBackendExit(dying)
+}
+
+async function waitForBackendExit(child, timeoutMs = 5000) {
+  if (!child) {
+    return
+  }
+  if (child.exitCode !== null || child.signalCode !== null) {
     return
   }
 
   await new Promise(resolve => {
     const timer = setTimeout(() => {
       try {
-        dying.kill('SIGKILL')
+        if (IS_WINDOWS && Number.isInteger(child.pid)) {
+          forceKillProcessTree(child.pid)
+        } else {
+          child.kill('SIGKILL')
+        }
       } catch {
         // Already gone.
       }
       resolve()
-    }, 5000)
-    dying.once('exit', () => {
+    }, timeoutMs)
+    child.once('exit', () => {
       clearTimeout(timer)
       resolve()
     })
@@ -4500,12 +4511,70 @@ function stopPoolBackend(profile) {
   }
 }
 
+async function teardownPoolBackendAndWait(profile) {
+  const entry = backendPool.get(profile)
+  if (!entry) return
+  backendPool.delete(profile)
+
+  if (entry.process && !entry.process.killed) {
+    try {
+      entry.process.kill('SIGTERM')
+    } catch {
+      // Already gone.
+    }
+  }
+
+  await waitForBackendExit(entry.process)
+}
+
 function stopAllPoolBackends() {
   for (const profile of [...backendPool.keys()]) {
     stopPoolBackend(profile)
   }
 }
 
+function profileNameFromDeleteRequest(request) {
+  if (!request || String(request.method || 'GET').toUpperCase() !== 'DELETE') {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  const match = String(request.path || '').match(/^\/api\/profiles\/([^/?#]+)(?:[?#].*)?$/)
+  if (!match) {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  let raw = ''
+  try {
+    raw = decodeURIComponent(match[1])
+  } catch {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  const name = raw.trim()
+  if (!name) {
+    return null
+  }
+  if (name.toLowerCase() === 'default') {
+    return 'default'
+  }
+  return name.toLowerCase()
+}
+
+async function prepareProfileDeleteRequest(request) {
+  const profile = profileNameFromDeleteRequest(request)
+  if (!profile || profile === 'default' || !PROFILE_NAME_RE.test(profile)) {
+    return
+  }
+
+  if (profile === primaryProfileKey()) {
+    writeActiveDesktopProfile('default')
+    await teardownPrimaryBackendAndWait()
+    return
+  }
+
+  await teardownPoolBackendAndWait(profile)
+}
+
 async function startHermes() {
   // Latched-failure short-circuit: once bootstrap has failed in this
   // process, every subsequent startHermes() call re-throws the same error
@@ -5124,6 +5193,8 @@ ipcMain.handle('hermes:api', async (_event, request) => {
     return rerouted
   }
 
+  await prepareProfileDeleteRequest(request)
+
   const connection = await ensureBackend(request?.profile)
   const timeoutMs = resolveTimeoutMs(request?.timeoutMs, DEFAULT_FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS)
   const url = `${connection.baseUrl}${request.path}`
diff --git a/hermes_cli/profiles.py b/hermes_cli/profiles.py
index bf85c361805..b800665f6a8 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/profiles.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/profiles.py
@@ -1010,6 +1010,7 @@ def delete_profile(name: str, yes: bool = False) -> Path:
             print(f"✓ Removed {wrapper_path}")
 
     # 4. Remove profile directory
+    remove_error: Exception | None = None
     try:
         def _make_writable(func, path, exc):
             """onexc/onerror handler: add +w on PermissionError so rmtree can proceed.
@@ -1056,6 +1057,7 @@ def delete_profile(name: str, yes: bool = False) -> Path:
         print(f"✓ Removed {profile_dir}")
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"⚠ Could not remove {profile_dir}: {e}")
+        remove_error = e
 
     # 5. Clear active_profile if it pointed to this profile
     try:
@@ -1066,6 +1068,9 @@ def delete_profile(name: str, yes: bool = False) -> Path:
     except Exception:
         pass
 
+    if remove_error is not None:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Could not remove profile directory {profile_dir}: {remove_error}") from remove_error
+
     print(f"\nProfile '{canon}' deleted.")
     return profile_dir
 
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py
index a1060e5e95b..310a47515d0 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py
@@ -442,6 +442,18 @@ class TestDeleteProfile:
         with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError):
             delete_profile("nonexistent", yes=True)
 
+    def test_rmtree_failure_raises(self, profile_env):
+        profile_dir = create_profile("coder", no_alias=True)
+        set_active_profile("coder")
+
+        with patch("hermes_cli.profiles._cleanup_gateway_service"), \
+             patch("hermes_cli.profiles.shutil.rmtree", side_effect=PermissionError("locked")):
+            with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="Could not remove profile directory"):
+                delete_profile("coder", yes=True)
+
+        assert profile_dir.is_dir()
+        assert get_active_profile() == "default"
+
 
 # ===================================================================
 # TestListProfiles